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Space photos of the day: Visions of the future

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NASA's recently announced Solar Sail demonstration mission will deploy and operate a sail area 7 times larger than ever flown in space with potential applicability to a wide range of future space missions, including use in an advanced space weather warning system to provide more timely and accurate notice of solar flare activity.NASA

This concept of the proposed Neil A. Armstrong Lunar Outpost was produced as part of the George W. Bush era Vision for Space Exploration, which was later put on hold by President Obama in 2010. NASA has since discovered water ice on the moon, which may alter future plans and designs for a moon base.NASA

This image is from an Advance Suit Laboratory Two Wheel Extravehicular Activity Chariot Load Test, taken at Mars Rock Yard. Bill Welch is wearing a Mark III advanced spacesuit, which could be used by future astronauts, though soft space suits may be developed in the future.NASA

NASA artist John J. Olson's conception for the future of space exploration is seen here: A base on Mars.NASA

When humans return to the Moon, their visits will likely extend beyond the week-long trips of Apollo. One possible mission is to establish a lunar observatory with a radio telescope built into the lunar surface. Such an outpost would require efficient and reliable space power systems.Les Bossinas/ERC, Inc./NASA

How might a sunrise appear on the most Earth-like planet yet discovered, Gliese 581c? One artistic guess is shown above. The planet's red dwarf star is small and redder than our Sun but one of the orbiting planets has recently been discovered to be in the habitable zone where liquid water could exist on its surface.NASA

This is an artist's concept depicting a possible scene of astronauts walking on Mars during a dust storm. The artwork was part of a NASA new initiatives study which surveyed possible future manned planetary expeditionary activity. Scientists and researchers involved in the study, realizing that a hostile environment will confront long-distance space travelers, note the requirement of highly specialized technologies and systems, e.g., the durable type suits, depicted here, for protection against the dust storm. Paul DiMare/NASA

A lunar crane lifts equipment at a moon base in this concept by NASA artist Pat Rawlings.NASA/Pat Rawlings

The 'once upon a time' science fiction concept of a space elevator has been envisioned and studied as a real mass transportation system. David Smitherman of NASA has compiled plans for such an elevator. The space elevator concept is a structure extending from the surface of the Earth to geostationary Earth orbit at 22,000 miles in altitude. The tower would be approximately 30 miles tall with a cable tethered to the top. Its center mass would be at GEO such that the entire structure orbits the Earth in sync with the Earth's rotation maintaining a stationary position over its base attachment at the equator.NASA

Large assemblies like this theoretical torus-shaped space colony could be put together in space. Here panels of the colony are being fitted in place by small vehicles, called Assembly non-thethered ships or ANTS.NASA/Ames Research Center

This artists impression shows a terraformed Moon. Terraforming is a hypothetical planetary engineering process wherein the temperature, atmosphere, or ecology of a planet is deliberately modified to be similar to Earth's. Mars is probably the most likely candidate for such a process, but the resources and money required for such a process are so great that it may remain unfeasible or impossible for a long time.Daein Ballard/Wikimedia commons/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TerraformedMoonFromEarth.jpg/This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The residential area is in the central sphere of this hypothetical torus wheel-shaped space colony. Farming regions are in the 'tires.' Mirrors reflect sunlight into the habitat and farms. The large flat panels radiate away extra heat into space, and panels of solar cells provide electricity. NASA/Ames Research Center/Franklyn M. Branley

This is an artist's concept depicting a possible scene of astronauts walking on Mars during a dust storm. The artwork was part of a NASA new initiatives study which surveyed possible future manned planetary expeditionary activity. Scientists and researchers involved in the study, realizing that a hostile environment will confront long-distance space travelers, note the requirement of highly specialized technologies and systems, e.g., the durable type suits, depicted here, for protection against the dust storm. Paul DiMare/NASA

A 1969 station concept is seen. The station was to rotate on its central axis to produce artificial gravity. The majority of early space station concepts created artificial gravity one way or another in order to simulate a more natural or familiar environment for the health of the astronauts. After returning micro-gravity environment, astronauts find their muscles weak because they have not been using them. NASA

Ice deposits suggested by the NASA-United States Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's (BMDO) Clementine spacecraft in peretually shadowed craters at the lunar South Pole open new possibilities for human expansion into the Solar System. In this unique location, a solar-powered colony could produce fuel and launch spacecraft from the Moon's one-sixth gravity. Water from potential ice resources or the regolith circulated through the dome's cells could attenuate dangerous radiation. This image produced for NASA by Pat Rawlings, (SAIC). NASA